Accused Surrey Six killer Cody Haevischer

Photograph by: Handout
, Vancouver Sun

METRO VANCOUVER — A lawyer for accused Surrey Six killer Cody Haevischer hammered the credibility of Red Scorpion founder Michael Le Tuesday, calling him one of the worst witnesses he had ever seen.

Simon Buck urged B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Wedge to reject all of Le's testimony, including admissions Le claimed had come from Haevischer after the Oct. 19, 2007 slaying of six people.

"Mr. Le is a person of extreme bad character. He is a lifelong criminal who has admitted to committing all types of crimes," Buck said on the second day of his closing submissions.

"He can fairly, in my submission, be described as a person who is violent, dishonest, manipulative, greedy, untrustworthy, cunning and arrogant. These character traits were plain to see in the evidence. Traits like these, in my submission, colour the testimony of the witness."

Buck said Le, who had been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder alongside Haevischer and co-accused Matt Johnston, manipulated the proceedings by waiting until well into the trial before striking a deal with the Crown to cooperate.

That allowed him to hear the testimony of other key witnesses, as well as read over all the disclosure provided to the accused before he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and agreed to testify, Buck said.

"His guilty plea carried absolutely no weight. It came late in the proceedings and was given out of pure self-interest," Buck said. "He, in my submission, manipulated these proceedings."

He said Le tried to obstruct Buck's cross-examination.

"Mr. Le was argumentative, evasive, sarcastic and impertinent," he said. "This is one of the worst witnesses ... that I have ever seen."

Le founded the Red Scorpion gang to which both Haevischer and Johnston belonged at the time of the Oct. 19, 2007 murders of rival drug trafficker Corey Lal, his brother Michael, associates Ryan Bartolomeo and Eddie Narong, as well as bystanders Chris Mohan and Ed Schellenberg.

Buck said Le denied meeting Haevischer in Richmond on the night of the murders, even though cellphone evidence indicates the two were in contact and in close proximity to each other.

Buck told Wedge the evidence supported other conclusions than those the Crown urged her to reach.

He said a triad member called Sophon Sek, who is charged with manslaughter for allegedly helping the killers gain access to Corey Lal's apartment, could have been one of the actual shooters seen in the parkade by two witnesses.

And he suggested a man known as Person X who pleaded guilty to shooting three of the six victims might have carried two guns and killed all six victims.

Buck also attacked the credibility of the other two key Crown witnesses — Haevischer's girlfriend at the time, "KM," and another former Red Scorpion who can be identified only as Person Y.

He pointed to differing accounts from Le and Person Y about a meeting right before the murders at a Korean restaurant in Surrey.

Y testified that Le didn't know he had backed out of the hit and that Person X approached Y outside the restaurant to borrow a gun.

Buck said it's not credible that the plot was that disorganized on the day it was to be executed.

"Either this plot was engineered by a group of complete incompetents or the witnesses are not telling the truth about the true state of affairs," he said.

"The witnesses have been lying."

He said the Crown's case "is entirely circumstantial based on three witnesses."

There is no proof that Haevischer was even in suite 1505 of the Balmoral Tower when the murders happened, Buck said.